The Arabic television station Al Jazeera last night broadcast a statement from the Taoiseach appealing for the release of Ms Margaret Hassan as fears grew for the safety of the Irish-born hostage seized in Baghdad four days ago, write Mark Brennock, Chief Political Correspondent, and Frank Millar in London
Hours after the station broadcast a video of a distressed Ms Hassan pleading for help from the British people to save her life, Mr Ahern issued a statement to the station saying that to harm her in any way would be "unthinkable".
The release of the video, in which Ms Hassan appeals to the British people to pressurise Mr Blair to withdraw troops from Iraq, added to fears that she was being held by militants such as those who have killed many other hostages in recent months.
In a grotesque tableau reminiscent of the videos made under duress by Mr Kenneth Bigley, the British hostage eventually murdered by his abductors, Ms Hassan is filmed also begging for her life and breaking down in tears. Her captors have not yet identified themselves as a group or issued any demands separate from the video.
In Britain, the Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, declined to make an immediate response to Ms Hassan's plea. No 10 Downing Street also declined to give any detail about any efforts inside Iraq to locate Ms Hassan or identify the group responsible for her kidnapping.
Later, however, the Foreign Secretary, Mr Jack Straw, said the video was "extremely distressing".
"I have the greatest sympathy for what her family are suffering. Margaret Hassan has spent more than 30 years working for the Iraqi people. We hope all Iraqis will join us in calling for her immediate release," he said.
The content of Ms Hassan's forced plea suggests that her abductors have a clear understanding of up-to-the-minute political developments in Britain and the pressures on Mr Blair.
In her appeal, Ms Hassan mentioned specifically Thursday's decision by the British Cabinet to accede, on military advice, to a United States request for a British troops redeployment from southern Iraq to the central combat zone just south of Baghdad.
The decision was taken only after Mr Blair rejected suggestions from the opposition, and from some of his own backbenchers, that the US request was based, not on military needs but political requirements helpful to the re-election prospects of President Bush.
In his broadcast response to the video, Mr Ahern said: "The people of Ireland have been shocked by the kidnapping of Margaret Hassan. Margaret is a woman who has lived in Iraq for 32 years.
"She is a person who has selflessly worked for the benefit of her Iraqi fellow citizens and fought for the rights of the Iraqi people for many years. Taking Margaret from her family is a cruel and shocking act.
"To harm her in any way would be unthinkable. I call on her captors, on behalf of the Government and people of Ireland, to release her immediately."
Since Tuesday the Government has emphasised Ms Hassan's Irish roots, her Iraqi citizenship and her work on behalf of ordinary Iraqi people in the hope that this will influence the kidnappers not to harm her. However, there was little optimism last night and considerable fear in Government circles that these efforts may be in vain.
Labour's foreign affairs spokesman, Mr Michael D. Higgins, said last night that all those who opposed the war on Iraq and who had sought to help the Iraqi people wanted Ms Hassan to be released. He said her detention was "doing immense damage to the cause of Iraq and will lose many, many friends to the Iraqi people".
He spoke of Ms Hassan's commitment to helping Iraqi civilians suffering as a result of war and economic sanctions. In a statement appealing for her release he said:
"The interruption to Margaret Hassan's work is itself a powerful blow to those who most need her work in Iraq. Her detention makes no sense whatsoever to those who for so long have been concerned for the welfare of Iraqi civilians.
"She is simply a person who stayed with the Iraqi people in the most difficult of times. She has given most of her life to the welfare of the Iraqi people.